Rick & Kate
by DeeY005
Summary: The next step for Castle & Beckett is unfamiliar territory. Will a new murder bring them closer together? Rated M for just in case.
1. Chapter 1

**Night – Thursday**

Her eyes fixated on a large figure as it sliced through the highland grass with the force of wolves hunting prey. She sat perfectly still, silent and observant. Its presence crept up slowly on her nerves and she let out a small breath of perspiration, but she refused to let fear show. For the first time in her life she wanted to seek comfort and she had a warm and safe place she could go but fought hardly against. Her thoughts were interrupted by the touch of a hand on her shoulder.

"You underestimate my bravery" she whispered to Castle as he stretched wide to put his arm around her. He had chosen a horror film as they finally had decided to enjoy each other's company in the form of a date.

"I know, but I am. I was never good with scary movies" he smirked at her. She couldn't help but smile at his childishness. Even though they hadn't had a proper date, it was as if they had known each other for years but with the excitement still alive. Castle was on his best behaviour on this night. He knew all along that coexisting with Beckett as a couple would take a lot of convincing on his end. He had to prove to her that he was in fact serious about her and that this was no ordinary relationship to him.

"You know what I'm thinking?" He broke the silence as they paced slowly down the sidewalk leaving the movie theatre.

"That you look really beautiful" he said gazing at her. Beckett smiled at him.

"Castle, your flowery words may work on all your other women but I can see right through you"

"Really? What underwear am I wearing?" Castle said smugly. Beckett grew a big grin on her face. She continued walking carrying with her that smile of content as Castle followed watching her with great excitement and intrigue.

They had strolled for an hour down Third Avenue when Castle conjured up enough courage to reach out for Beckett's hand. He knew she didn't like PDAs but couldn't resist testing the boundaries. He slowly inserted his fingers into the gap of hers and watched for any flinching of discomfort but she didn't even turn around to look at him. What he couldn't see was the slight rouge that had spread infectiously across her face.

"Do you want to grab some dessert?"

"Uh, no, I think we should go. I have to be at the Precinct quite early tomorrow" Beckett said as she looked straight ahead.

As they paced pass the window of a diner, both caught a glimpse of a happy couple feeding each other out of a large chocolate sundae dish.

"That little worm, I knew he was hiding something from me" exclaimed Castle.

They quietly entered the diner and approached the booth where the couple sat startling them. Esposito and Lanie turned to look at them shocked with chocolate on both corners of their mouths.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't sergeant Honesty who is a big fat liar!" Castle pointed panning his finger between the two of them.

Esposito was shocked to have been caught. Just last week he was proclaiming that he was not dating Lanie and that he didn't really fancy her presence. Lanie however, had told Beckett everything so the girls had become spectators in the boy's argument. Castle and Beckett slid into the seats next to them.

"Ryan better not know about this otherwise our relationship has definitely changed" threatened Castle.

"He doesn't know. I haven't told anybody yet, unlike gossip queen over here" Esposito said referring to Lanie.

"Hey. Don't get your boy panties in a twist, Kate's my best friend and we share everything so get use to it" defended Lanie. "So what's the deal with you two anyway since we're in an exposing mood?"

A short silence whilst Beckett and Castle tried to define themselves.

"We're at a tryout stage" answered Beckett slightly awkward.

"When did sleepovers become part of the tryout stage?" Lanie said with a grin on her face.

"You two should try it out, it's very soothing and comforting". Becket gave Castle a hard nudge in the stomach.

After more petty talk, Beckett stood up and put her jacket on. "I expect you to be there nice and early Esposito. Remember we have that meeting"

"Alright, alright," Esposito answered as if to an older sister telling him to stop playing his playstation.


	2. Chapter 2

**Later that night – Thursday**

They got out the cab at Beckett's apartment after Castle insisting that he sees her home first before heading off for his own. He walked quietly behind her up to the elevator. She was well aware that he wanted to push to stay the night but she wasn't ready for that next step in their relationship.

"Go home and get some sleep Castle. I want to see you nice and early tomorrow"

"If it's too early in the morning it'll probably make more sense for me to stay here" said Castle cheekily as he moved closer towards her. She held a hand up and pushed against his chest. She had a tough time resisting him ever since they've decided to be some kind of couple. She didn't really know how to define them and often wondered how long she could keep this up but she knew she couldn't leap into a relationship with him straight away.

"Rick, we're taking this slow remember" she said slightly out of breath from his closeness. He ignored her last sentence and tilted his head whilst he smoothed his hands slowly around her waist. In the absence of her protest, he kissed her lightly on the lips and then on her forehead.

"Good night" he whispered.

She pulled on his shirt collar as he tried to retreat his face from hers and placed her mouth over his. He looked confused. Was she confusing him on purpose or just giving in? The warmth in her mouth was all she could feel as she ran her hands over his body. He wrapped his arms around her and they were both breathed out sounds of desire as they kissed passionately open mouthed. Trailing kisses from her ear down to the opening of her blouse and into her cleavage forcing Beckett to arch back against the wall and tilt her head back. As he ran his hands underneath her shirt and up her back caressing it gently, Beckett pulled away suddenly. The elevator doors had opened for Mrs. Borane and her dog Brussels. She glanced at them on her way out after being startled by their presence and muttered something disapproving as she exited the building.

"I really enjoyed tonight". Beckett said with her hand still grasping Castle's sleeve.

"I'm always free for a good make out session" She playfully slapped him on his face.

**Friday – Morning**

Friday mornings always brought the same feeling, freedom is near. Castle has yet to show up leaving Beckett wondering what had happened between their make out session last night and this morning. She pondered over to the coffee machine. After making a cup of coffee, she returned to her desk and dialled for Castle.

"Hello?"

Beckett could not recognise the voice and didn't know what to make of it but she knew it wasn't Martha or Alexis.

"This is Detective Kate Beckett with the NYPD, is Mr. Castle there?" she couldn't believe "Mr. Castle" was how she had referred to Rick but she was too busy thinking about who the person on the other side was.

"Richard is in the shower, dear. This is Meredith, Kate. Remember that we met at the literature benefit a few months ago?"

"Yes, Meredith, can you please let Castle know that he is needed at the Precinct? Thanks." She then hung up immediately.

**Friday – later that morning**

As Beckett existed the morning meeting, she peeked over to her desk and saw Castle sitting there exhausted. She ignored him, instead strolled over to the other side of the room to make useless small talk with her colleagues before dropping her bottom down on the cushion of her chair. She turned to her computer screen and continued with her work.

"Hi" Castle said quietly.

Beckett turned slightly to acknowledge his presence but couldn't help herself.

"Big night?"

"Yeah, actually, Meredith showed up at my house…" Beckett interrupted him.

.


	3. Chapter 3

"When were you going to tell me that she's staying with you?" she asked harshly.

"It was really late and she just turned up with her things, what was I suppose to do, turn her away? You know how late I left your place" defended Castle. Beckett knew he was telling the truth but enjoyed grilling him anyway.

"How long is she staying with you for?"

"…" Castle paused for a second, "I've been trying to find her some place to live all morning. I'm going to speak to her when I get home…" his eyes widened, "Wait a second, are you jealous?"

"…No, I just thought you'd tell me about things like this"

"And then what are you going to do? Confront her about our relationship by referring to me as Mr. Castle?" He laughed as she gave him a death glare.

Montgomery hurried over with a rolled up newspaper and splat it on Beckett's desk.

"Two bodies found at local diner" he said pointing at the picture, "I need you guys and the boys down there now. Word from forensics is that the vics are important figures, I don't need to tell you guys how important it is to solve this as quickly as possible"

Castle snatched the paper from Montgomery. "That was the diner last night… we sat here…" his voice slowly faded, "…where did they find the bodies?"

"I'm not sure. If you both were there last night, that makes you potential witnesses. Look, go check it out and see what we're dealing with."

**Third Avenue – Later that morning**

Castle and Beckett arrived at the scene to find Lanie and Esposito being questioned near the entrance. Beckett went straight through to the back to find forensics crowding around a cold room with metal air tight doors. There, two bodies lay frozen and pale, sprawled out with their limbs flat on the ground and piercing icy stares in their eyes, their skin so perfect and smooth, and an impression of youth.

"Do we know the identity of our vic?"

Castle fumbled through the door just as an officer gave Beckett the run sheet.

"They're so young"

The kitchen door swung open as Lanie and Esposito made their way through after being questioned.

"We're all witnesses now. The meds put the time of murder between 9 – 11pm last night. We were sitting at our booth from 10pm onwards and the two of you joined at ten to eleven. But don't worry, we're lucky the other patrons remember how noisy we were giggly and talking by the window."

"Still, we're not in the all clear" declared Beckett as she furrowed her brow at the victims.

**Precinct – Afternoon**

Conducting interrogations was something Beckett spent years perfecting. Even after meeting Castle, she never thought she would be the subject of questioning, especially in the same room as him. Ryan smoothly waltzed in with a clipboard and pen. He threw it from a distance making an intended _splat_ sound on the table. A huge grin overcame his face as he pushed himself into a chair opposite Castle and Beckett.

"Cut the crap Ryan, you know we're innocent" Beckett said as Castle tugged her back slightly with one hand on her elbow.

"You know the rules Beckett, this is routine" he said glancing up at her.

"Ok" interrupted Castle as he leaned forward as if to take responsibility, "Let's have it then".

Ryan cleared his throat, "What is the nature of your relationship?" he said glancing down the page and holding a pen up. "These are not my questions, they're on the list of ones I'm suppose to ask"

"Really. Then how come you skipped all the ones in the beginning?" Castle narrowed his eyes at him.

"Just answer the question" he said looking smug.

"We're friends" declared Castle, "friends enjoying a movie and some dinner, not a crime."


	4. Chapter 4

Confusion overcame Beckett as she redirected her attention from Ryan onto Castle, furrowing her brow at him. She decided that a label wasn't important or appropriate at this time for their relationship, but "friends"? Her pursed lips made him fear what was going to happen to him after they're done with Ryan.

"And what about Esposito and Lanie, were you two eating dinner with them?"

Beckett explained the whole scenario of when they joined them at the diner. Both did not recall seeing those two young men enter the diner.

Beckett was not use to having no leads. She sat perched on a desk, staring at the murder board for clues or patterns but came up with none. These men were college buddies but that was all. They went their separate ways after graduation, John as a consultant for a software company in LA and Ben, a banking analyst in Boston. There were no emails or phone calls that could be traced between the two. Something was amiss. Beside the cups of coffee left on her desk that were going cold sat Castle, glancing over more paperwork and reports. He glanced over at Beckett wondering why she ignored him all afternoon.

"Found anything yet?" He interrupted her with another freshly made cup of coffee.

"No, nothing. Why hasn't anyone come forward reporting these men missing? It's so strange. No other connections between them besides college."

"There's always a connection, we just have to find it" She shrugged off his arm around her shoulder.

"Castle, I'd prefer us not displaying or branding ourselves in public as anything. You know how I feel about PDAs."

Castle studied her intensely, "was it something I said in the interrogation room?"

"No, I just don't want you to get your hopes up about what this is between us and how we're progressing…"She maintained her fixation on the murder board, "plus, your ex-wife is in town and we have a murder we should be concentrating on…"

"It has nothing to do with Meredith, she's my ex-wife and she'll be out of the house when I ask her to be. Why are you always travelling back and forth on where you stand with me?" His tone of hurt angered her. Why was he all of a sudden the victim in all of this?

"Look, I'm going to go, I need to clear my head and I'll see you here tomorrow."

Beckett grabbed her jacket and bag and left for the door in a hurry with Castle leaving closely after her.

"Kate, let's talk about this". As they stormed out the precinct, two quiet shooting sounds were heard from across the rood and everything faded to black for both. All Beckett could hear before falling to deep sleep was the sound of screeching tires.

**Night – Dark room**

Her head was swirling like being hit by a large object. She could see not even one wave of light from where she was and could feel the tightness of the covering over her eyes. Her hands were bound and she started to worry at not being able to feel Castle nearby.

"Rick!" she whispered loudly.

A groan came from a far distance of the room. From the tone, she could recognise Castle's voice.

"Rick! Are you okay?"

There was no reply but more groans came from the same point in the room. A sinking feeling overcame her as she slowly crawled over towards the sound. She leaned up hard against the cold concrete walls and slowly slid the blindfold off. It was still very dark but they were not underground. She could see light coming through the gaps of the black curtains. Continuing her efforts towards the man in the corner, she remembered a slight pin in her watch. She un-cuffed herself and ran towards Castle.

"Rick, it's Kate, can you hear me?" she pressed her cold palm against his face before untying him.

On Castle's shoulder sat a tranquilliser bigger than any she had seen used on humans. She pulled it out with great force and pulled Castle closer to her. They had sat huddled together for more than an hour before Castle started regaining consciousness. He looked up at Beckett as he woke with sweat beads falling into his eyes and smiled.

"Thanks for staying with me, Kate. Now let's get out of here."


	5. Chapter 5

Beckett stood up to examine the door and walls.

"Door's shut tight" she said lowering her head, "and there are no windows"

He turned to Beckett, "Where's your gun?"

"They took it"

Castle's eyes avoided hers in slight embarrassment, "Don't worry, I'll get us out" he stood to examine and tap the walls.

"Is that what you've learnt from the movies? You don't think they can hear you tap at Kaos headquarters on the other side of this wall?"

The sound of metal clicking echoed at the door causing them to caution with retreat. The intense beam of light pouring through behind him created a silhouette by the door. His face was darkened. And his hand holding on to what Castle can only assume was a gun.

"It is a feral offence to hold a NYPD officer hostage! How do you think you're going to get out of this?" Beckett's words seemed to affect him, but only in the slightest. Beckett noticed his right hand by his side tighten the grip on his gun.

"We don't have anything that you want. Why are you keeping us here?" queried Castle.

A plate of food splattered on the ground along with a bottle of water, "No one cares what you have to offer Mr. Castle. You're both not going anywhere. You'll never leave here." he turned to leave.

"What, that's it? Wait!" The door closed behind the stranger and again left the two of them darkness. Castle slumped down to a sitting position. He felt the comfort of Beckett's right hand as she reached over to cover his.

"I know you're thinking of Alexis and Martha now but let's concentrate on getting us out of here."

She reached up to his shoulders and felt a soaked patch between her fingers but was too distracted to ask. Her heart however, was pulled by gravity.

"Beckett, get up on my shoulders, I have a plan." Castle pointed his fingers towards the ceiling. Beckett got on his shoulders without hesitation and reached both arms up to detach the fluorescent tube light from its holdings.

A few hours passed with a irritating silence. Footsteps were then heard at the door. The door unlocked revealing a man, Beckett could sense that this one differed from the previous.

The man shone his light in search of the two but found nothing. A yelp echoed down the corridors. With the guide of his light Beckett pierced his hand with the sharp edge of a broken fluorescent tube. The gun dropped to the ground as Castle then put his in a chokehold. As they heard the quicksteps of two running down the hall, Castle stepped out with the man as his shield holding him at gunpoint. One of the two figures stepped forward. They were masked.

"I'm sure we can come to some sort of compromise, Mr Castle. Let him go and we'll spare the two of you"

"Not a chance" Castle struggled under his breath.

"You're making an irreparable mistake"

Beckett studied the man briefly. He was unnaturally skinny for his height, and probably in his thirties. "If you step closer Mr. Castle here will shoot him in the head, are we clear?" Castle forced the gun harder on the man's temple. He signalled for them to back off as the three etched slowly out of the building. On her way out, Beckett's cop instincts reminded her to acknowledge the nearby buildings in proximity to their location. Beckett hailed a drive by car down with the flash of her badge.

**Castle's Apartment – Night**

"Well it's about time you two got back, did you have dinner without us?" Martha queried as Castle bit down on pain as he felt his heavy jacket press on his wounds.

"Yeah, actually, we were talking about a case. The time just flew"

"Richard, dear, are you feeling alright? You look a little pale" gestured Martha circling her index finger at Castle's face. Her gaze then trailed to meet Beckett's.

"Good evening detective, it's nice to see you again"

"Good to see you too, Martha… and Meredith, nice to see you too"

Meredith swirled her wine as she positioned herself at a single couch at the other end of the room. Beckett felt an uncomfortableness in Meredith as she walked over to the put her overnight bag down by the stairs.

"Oh, Kate, put your bag in my room" Castle said in a very casual tone. Everyone in the room paused and darted their eyes for a response from Meredith, but she merely smirked at Beckett and stayed mute. Beckett felt her breath slowing. It was still slightly awkward for her to be in this setting, and the expectations that went a long with this kind of relationship. What was their relationship? Did everyone expect them to be together? Her own confusion allowed her to waiver any unpleasant signals from the ex-wife.

The awkwardness dimmed as the night slowly retired and Alex had left for her room. Meredith refilled each empty glass and returned her gaze to Beckett. She ran rings around the rim of the glass with her index finger, slightly intoxicated, "So that's the reason why Richard's been keeping me away from his bedroom, how long have you two been dating?"

Just as Beckett opened her mouth, Castle quickly said "Six weeks"

A slight awkward silence ensued; Meredith poured herself another glass and pried some more, "Are you two sleeping together?"

Beckett slightly choked on the cube of cheese she had just stuffed down.

"That's confidential" Castle said quietly.

"So that's a no then?" Meredith with her brow raised, "That's unlike you Richard, you must be itching for a scratch"

"People aren't as predictable as some think" said Beckett as she turned to gaze at him.

"I tend to disagree. You should know how predictable people are, Kate. You deal with many re-offenders, many live out of habit, don't they?"

Beckett redirected her attention elsewhere and savoured the residue of her wine.

Meredith drowned herself in the rest of her wine and headed off to the guest room. Martha also retired to bed. The ticking clock echoed off the two left.

"Want to sponge bath me?" Castle beamed.

There was no reply from Beckett but her lips curled up devilishly as she slid her glass on the table surface, "my clothes stay on"


End file.
